Philoxenia: Greek Hospitality

  Athens, Greece
Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Archaeologist Taxi Driver drops me off at the door of my apartment. I'm waiting on the stoop only a few minutes before a woman from the program -- we'll call her Lovely Lithe for the gorgeous long line of her straight brown hair, creamy tanned skin, and fluid sundress - arrives with the keys.

Living room lilies

My apartment has so many blessings about it. A guest room with two single beds for the visit of my friends Dutch, Nurse Cubby, Gramma, and Chaplain in October. (And any other friends who are able to make it out here... Michigan Moustache, Esquire, and the Hoosierpalooza sisterhood, I'm looking at you.) Air conditioning in my bedroom (but not elsewhere). A kitchen furnished with dishes, cutlery, pans, and bowls. A folder of information about the program beside a little bookcase of books about Greece. And the women of the program have welcomed me with cheese and grapes in the fridge, a card on the desk, and a beautiful bouquet of lilies in the living room. This is the legendary Greek philoxenia, tender and thoughtful hospitality.

View down my street from front balcony

Thank goodness I had a day of recovery in New York in the middle of the flights, or I would not be half lucid to follow all the directions Lovely Lithe is giving me about how to buzz up visitors, how to open and close the wooden slats over every window, and how to throw the breaker every time I want hot water. That's right, you have to flip a switch half an hour before you shower or wash dishes. The plumbing system in Athens dates back to the ancient Romans, so (warning, squick ahead!) instead of flushing toilet paper, you deposit it into a little bin beside the toilet. The Greeks take this trash out to the dumpster daily, but it's still noxious, so tomorrow I'm hoping to find some baking soda or kitty litter to dump into the little bin.

Classroom building courtyard

I ride with Lovely Lithe the few blocks to the classroom building. It is a gorgeous oasis in the middle of Athenian concrete, with plants and an open courtyard surrounded by intimate classrooms. Sage, the program director, shows me through all the rooms, stopping to point out a coffee kitchen for the students and a wonderful library collection. We wind up a narrow spiral staircase to the rooftop. She pulls me to a corner and we look out, and I burst into tears. There is the Parthenon, standing tawny gold in the distance.

Parthenon from roof of classroom building

I get to meet Beautiful Basil, one of the other amazing women who run the program. I also make immediate friends with Zorba the Cat, the friendly program mascot. He's bony thin, black with a white chest tuft, and he's a drooler. He follows me around the library, forces his head under my hand, purrs and kneads, and drools with pleasure.

Zorba my new best friend

Sage graciously offers to take me out to a Welcome to Athens lunch at an outdoor taverna. She orders delicious mezedes for us, a collection of little bites of food similar to tapas that you share with everyone at your table. My first bite of Greek food in Greece is saganaki, deep-fried cheese. Somewhere on the other side of the planet, Bear is gnashing his teeth with envy!

It is horrendously hot. As if it weren't bad enough that I smell like eight hours of airplane, now I'm sweating in torrents. Sage helps me buy a phone card to call home and units for the cell phone the program gave me (not to make personal calls, they explained, but so that THEY can find me, and so I'll be instantly available to all the students). Thank goodness she's there to order the lunch and buy the cards in Greek. I'm going to have quite a pathetic adventure when she's not there to help me the next time.

At this point, I'm really feeling exhausted, maybe jetlagged. Sage generously offers to walk me back to my apartment since I haven't gotten my navigational bearings yet. I unpack as my hot-water breaker warms up, take a desperately-needed shower, use my new phone card to call Bear and my parents as the U.S. is just waking up for Tuesday morning, and collapse into bed. Day 1 in Greece survived!